Tribal violence kills 26 combatants and an unconfirmed number of bystanders

AT LEAST 26 combatants and an unconfirmed number of bystanders were killed in a gunbattle between warring tribes in Papua New Guinea, police said Monday.

A tribe, their allies and mercenaries were on their way to attack a neighbouring tribe when they were ambushed Sunday in Enga province in the South Pacific nation’s remote highlands, Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Acting Superintendent George Kakas said.

Police Commissioner David Manning later described the clash as a “gunbattle between warring tribes”. An unconfirmed number of villagers also were killed. Police reinforcements were sent to the scene of the battle, Manning said.

“At this point, it’s not clear exactly how far we have moved into the conflict there,” Manning told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “But the intent is to regain control or have a significant presence in that conflict area and then work our way through our procedures in dealing with this type of incident.”

Bodies were collected from the battlefield, roads and the riverside, then loaded onto police trucks and taken to the hospital. Authorities were still counting “those who were shot, injured and ran off into the bushes,” Kakas said.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said he had “great concern” about the violence in Enga and urged the warring tribes to lay down their weapons.

“If there are community disputes, there are ways to deal with the community disputes,” Marape said.

“Lay down your arms. A lot of disputes will be resolved. One killing or two killings doesn’t solve the problem. It contributes towards more problems,” he added.

John Luther, a leader of Akom village whose warriors were among those ambushed, talked down the prospect of an escalation of the violence in retaliation for the deaths.

“We’ve lost a lot of lives. I don’t feel we should be able be to retaliate. We’re already weak in numbers,” Luther told the AP.

“I don’t think I would allow my people to go fighting again,” Luther added.

The villagers were ambushed from a school building while on a mission to avenge the death of a woman killed in a neighbouring allied village, he said.

Luther also accused the military of aiding and arming his enemies in the ambush. He had been told the death toll was 44.

But Papua New Guinea government lawyer Oliver Nobetau said he expects more lives will be lost in retaliatory violence.

“There’s a big concern that this will continue on. Revenge killings tend to be a normal thing that happens,” said Nobetau, who is on temporary assignment to the Sydney-based international policy think tank Lowy Institute.